Comparison

Practical Guide for Linux vs tldr

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Practical Guide for Linux

A comprehensive reference guide for learning UNIX and Linux commands, designed for students and professionals. It covers fundamental concepts, file system navigation, process management, and advanced utilities with updated content for 2026.

Highlights
  • Covers fundamental UNIX/Linux commands
  • File system navigation and management
  • Process and job control
  • Text manipulation with sed and awk
  • File archiving and transfer
  • Updated content for 2026
  • Supports Air Print and Light/Dark modes
Features
Read full description

Best Seller UNIX/Linux Reference since 2010 for both students and working adults! Now, with updated content for 2026, Air Print and iOS Light and Dark modes. #1 Guide in Operating Systems > Unix / Linux #1 College OS Guide Making First Steps (passwd, su) Logging Out, Shell (exit, Ctrl-d) Special Characters (Ctrl-c, Ctrl-h, Ctrl-d) Metacharacters (?, *, []) Environment (env) How To Change Environment Variables (.profile, .login) Navigating The File System (absolute, relative paths) How To Use Paths I (pwd, cd) How To Use Paths II (cd ..) Files and Directories - Part I (ls, ls -l) Files and Directories - Part II(ls -al) Files and Directories - Part III (ls -R) Permissions - Part I (id) Permissions - Part II (rwx-) Permissions - Part III (how to read) Permissions - Part IV (chmod) Viewing Files (more, cat, head, tail) Searching in Files - Part I (grep options) Searching in Files - Part II (grep examples) Renaming Files (mv) Copying Files (cp) Deleting Files (rm) Links (ln) Compare Files (diff) Compare Directories (dircmp) Creating Directories (mkdir) Finding Files and Directories (find) Create and Edit Files With vi - Part I Create and Edit Files With vi - Part II (insert mode) Create and Edit Files With vi - Part III (searching) Create and Edit Files With vi - Part IV (editing) Create and Edit Files With vi - Part V (deleting) Create and Edit Files With vi - Part VI (saving) Create and Edit Files With vi - Part VII (line-edit mode) Printing Files (lp, lpr) Archiving Files (tar) Transferring Files Between Computers (nslookup, ping) Telnet FTP - Part I (connecting) FTP - Part II (transferring files) More UNIX Commands (uname, arch) Date and Time (date, cal) Find Out About Other Users - Part I (who) Find Out About Other Users - Part II (finger) History Disk Space (df, du, gzip, gunzip) Memory (free, uptime) Processes (Jobs) - Part I (ps) Processes (Jobs) - Part II (ps -ef, kill, fuser) Processes (Jobs) - Part III (at) Electronic Mail - Part I (elm) Electronic Mail - Part II (command mode) Advanced UNIX - Redirection Part I (>, >>) Advanced UNIX - Redirection Part II (|) Practical sed and awk - Part I (sed) Practical sed and awk - Part II (sed example) Practical sed and awk - Part III (sed example) Practical sed and awk - Part IV (awk) Practical sed and awk - Part V (awk example) The best way to learn UNIX and Linux for all. Designed for all devices, full support for Air Print.

About

tldr

This app provides a crowd-sourced collection of simplified command-line manual pages. It offers concise explanations for Unix commands, making them easier to understand than traditional man pages.

Highlights
  • Concise command explanations
  • Crowd-sourced content
  • Simplified man pages
  • Easy-to-understand examples
  • Offline access to pages
Read full description

"tldr-pages" is a crowd-sourced collection of concise man-pages, for when the traditional manuals are just too much. This app is a client for viewing those tldr-pages.

Screenshots

Practical Guide for Linux4 screens
tldr3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: tldr at Free against Practical Guide for Linux's $1.99. tldr also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 10 months) and review sentiment (75% vs 56%). Practical Guide for Linux's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

tldr is free to download; Practical Guide for Linux costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Practical Guide for Linux holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: tldr has 32 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of Practical Guide for Linux's written reviews are positive against 75% of tldr's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Practical Guide for Linux ships an update every 10 months, tldr every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 8, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Practical Guide for Linux versus tldr: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPractical Guide for Linuxtldr
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.8 (32 ratings)
Positive reviews55.6% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings232 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEugene Khmelevsky Inc.Matthew Flint

Customer experience

Practical Guide for Linux

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive55.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative44.4%

tldr

All ratings32 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

In-app purchases

None

Practical Guide for Linux

No in-app purchases

None

tldr

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Practical Guide for Linux free?
Practical Guide for Linux costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is tldr free?
tldr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Practical Guide for Linux or tldr?
Practical Guide for Linux is rated higher. Practical Guide for Linux averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while tldr averages 4.8 from 32 ratings.
Do Practical Guide for Linux or tldr have ads?
Neither Practical Guide for Linux nor tldr shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Practical Guide for Linux or tldr?
Practical Guide for Linux ships an update every 10 months, and tldr every 3 months. Most recently, Practical Guide for Linux was updated on September 8, 2026 and tldr on September 24, 2026.

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